Utilizing waste coffee products.



No. 640,!6I. Patented Dec. 26, I899.

L. HESSE.

UTILIZING WASTE COFFEE PRODUCTS.

(Application filed Oct. 12, 1899.) (No Model.)

4 SheetsSI1eeI l.

N0. 640,!61. Patented Dec. 26, I899.

L. HESSE.

UTILIZING WASTE COFFEE PRODUCTS.

(Application filed Oct. 12, 1899.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 2,

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(No Model.)

(Application filed Oct, 12, 1899.)

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE.

LEOPOLD HESSE, OF SOUTH MELISOURNE, VICTORIA.

UTILIZING WASTE COFFEE PRODUCTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 640,161, datedDecember 26, 1899.

Application filed OctoberlZ, 1899- Serial No. 733,454. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LEOPOLD I-lEsSE, manufacturing chemist, a subject ofthe Queen of Great Britain, residing at No. 123 City road, SouthMelbourne, in the British Colony of Victoria, have invented an ImprovedApparatus for Collecting and Utilizing the Waste Products of CoffeeDuring Roasting, (for which I applied for a patent in Victoria on the23d day of September, 1898, No. 15,568,) of which the following is aspecification.

Hitherto coffee has usually been roasted in a revolving cylinder, andthe vapor arising therefrom has been allowed to escape into theatmosphere and been wasted, said vapor carrying a certain proportion ofcaffein as well as some of the aromatic compounds and essential oils ofcoffee. Quantities of fine particles given off by the berries in theprocess of roasting have also been carried away with the escaping vaporswhen the coffee is being treated in the ordinary way.

Now the object of this invention is to catch or utilize said escapingvapors and fine particles which would otherwise be wasteprodnets and toproduce thereby an article of commerce which will have many of thequalities of pure coffee and which will be manufactured by utilizingsaid fine particles and passing the cofiee vapors over or through asuitable absorbent material, such as chicory or malt.

The apparatus which has been devised in order to carry this inventioninto practice will be readily understood from the accompanying drawings,in which Figure 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 a vertical central section, ofthe improved apparatus for roasting coffee and utilizing the volatilecaffein, aromatic compounds, and essential oils therefrom. Fig. 3 is avertical transverse section on line A A, Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a transversesection through the roaster on line B B, Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a horizontalsection of the apparatus used for collecting the fine particles givenoff from the coffee-berries during roasting. Fig. 6 is a plan thereof.Figs. 7 and 8 are transverse sections on the lines 0 O and D D,respectively, of Figs. 5 and 6. Figs. 3 to 8 are drawn to a somewhatlarger scale than Figs. 1 and 2.

The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in all thefigures.

The roaster consists of a cylindrical vessel a, by preference made ofsheet metal and mounted upon hollow trunnions or shafts I),

supported in suitable bearings c and driven by belting or otherconvenient gearing, for which purpose one of said hollow trunnions orshafts may be fitted with a fast and loose pulley d, as illustrated inFigs. 1 and 2. Said cylinder is inclosed within a cover orcanopy e,which is preferably made in two parts hinged together at the top, asillustrated at f, so that one-half can be swung up out of the way toenable the door g, with which the cylinder a is provided, to be openedor closed. This canopy may be provided with a suitable chimney to carryaway the spent heat. The interior. of said cylinder at is provided withinwardly-projecting flanges or shelves h, arranged longitudinally,whereby the coffee-berries will be alternately elevated and dropped tothe bottom of the cylinder, thus being continually agitated and broughtinto contact with the heated surface of the cylinder. Inclinedprojecting flanges 2' can also be fitted inside said cylinder in orderto keep the berries thoroughly mixed. To still further assist inaccomplishing this obj ect,the ends of the cylinder a are formed, asillustrated atj, so that they are inclined inwardly toward the center.The central opening in this end corresponding with the opening in theright-hand trunnion b is flared outwardly, as shown at k, in order toreturn any berries which may fall into it back into the cylinder.

By mounting the cylinder upon hollow trunnions a long scoop can readilybe passed through one of them into the interior to allow a few of theberries which are being roasted to be withdrawn from time to time fromthe cylinder in order to ascertain whether they have been sufficientlytreated or not.

The opposite trunnion to that just referred to is connected to avapor-pump Z, which may be substituted by a fan, if so preferred.

In order to hinder the passage and arrest some of the particles whichare rubbed off the berries as they are being roasted, I provide a screenm, arranged across the outlet, and in order to collect the finerparticles passing through said screen a collector n n is in sertedbetween the discharge-trunnion and the pump Z, as indicated in Figs. 5and 6. In

Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings the collector is not shown complete, thispart being broken away at the point where the collector is located inthe practical embodiment of the invention. Said collector is constructedwith an outer box or casing n, within which is arranged an inner box orcasing n, fitted with baffle-plates 0 and 19, arranged alternately, onewith openings around the sides and the other with an opening in thecenter, so that the vapor and particles passing through are forced toadopt a circuitous path, the solid particles being deposited within saidbox, from whence they can afterward be removed and either mixed with theother products or sold separately, as preferred. The outer box or casingis provided with a removable cover M, which is held tightly closed byscrewbolts 41. or by any other suitable means. A two-way cook or valve qis provided on the other side of the pump between it and what is termedan impregnator. This two-way cock is constructed so that the vaporsdischarged by the pump can either be directed into the atmosphere orinto said impregnator, the object being to allow the aqueous vapor whichis driven off from the cofiee when the apparatus first starts to bedischarged into the atmosphere, while the volatile caffein, aromaticcompounds, and essential oils which are driven off as the roastingproceeds can be directed into said impregnator. This latter consists ofa cylindrical vessel r, within which are arranged a set of revolvingblades or beaters s, which keep the chicory or other absorbent materialin slow constant agitation, so that every particle will be brought intocontact with the caffein-laden vapor from the roasting coffee until itis thoroughly saturated with such cafiein, aromatic compounds, andessential oils, when it can be removed and be compressed into tablets orotherwise made up into a marketable form. The impregnator 'r is fittedwith a valvechamber 25, within which is a safety-valve t, the upper partof which chamber 15 is in communication, by means of apipe 25 with acoil or set of pipes it within a condenser o, the discharge end of saidset of pipes being led into a smaller vessel w, where the condensedvapor is collected, so as to be usable as reproducts of coffee duringroasting, the combination with a roasting-cylinder, of an 1m-' pregnatorhaving a communicating passage with said roasting-cylinder, meansinterposed between the roasting-cylinder and impregnator for forcing thevapors from the former into the latter, an outlet pipe or passage forsaid impregnator, a safety-valve controlling the escape of the vaporsthrough said pipe or passage, and a condenser forming a continuation ofthe outlet pipe or passage serving to collect and condense the vaporsescaping from the impregnator, substantially as described.

2. An apparatus for utilizing the waste products of coffee duringroasting, comprising in its construction a roaster and an impregnator,combined with a condenser communicating by a pipe or passage with saidimpregnator, and a safety-valve controlling the escape of the vaporsfrom the impregnator to the condenser, substantially as described.

3. In apparatus for utilizing the waste products of coffee duringroasting, a roaster a and an impregnator '1" together with a pump or fanfor forcing the vapors generated in the formerinto or through the latterin combination with a collector 11. located between the roaster and theimpregnator for intercepting the solid particles given off from theberries during the roasting substantially as and for the purposes hereindescribed and explained.

4. In an apparatus for collecting the waste products of coffee duringroasting, the combination with a roaster, of an impregnator having acommunicating passage with said roaster, a collector interposed in saidpassage, and means within the collector for causing the vapors to travelin a circuitous path durin g their passage therethrough,substantially asdescribed.

LEOPOLD HESSE.

Witnesses:

EDWARD WATERS, J unr., WALTER SMYTHE BAYSTON.

